different thickness of granite countertop

marzenaMarch 29, 2013

my black galaxy was installed yesterday with a seem in the middle of the sink When the installers left I have noticed that one side of the long countertop is thicker then the other Just by looking at the seem you can see the difference .I measured the thickness and one side is thicker the the other by 2 mill, how the installer did not say anything ? Looks like the two slabs of granite was used to fabricate the countertop. Since I have under mount sink one side of it is flush with granite and there is a gap on the other. I talked to the manager and they sanding someone to fix it , but first they lecture me that granite is a natural stone and variation in thickness in a slab in normal. Is it? I want to cry.

Yes, it's normal to have slabs with slightly different thicknesses. I had the same problem with one of my new counters in the showroom. However, my installer ground it down to ease the transition between the two thicknesses so that the eye didn't see an abrubt change.

My advice is to politely say it's not right and what can be done to remedy the situation. Sounds like sanding may work. We just had our counters installed and the angles did not feel right. The fabricator said it was difficult to get the angles right but then my GC looked at it and asked the fabricator to fix it. They did without a hassle. I was upset at first but they could in fact remedy the situation - not a problem. Lesson? Don't be afraid to ask for what you want.

Yes, granite can have slight variation of thickness from slab to slab. Normally + or - 1/16" However, a good fabricator would have double check the thickness before fabrication to avoid any problems. Insist they fix it, or you will have future issues, for example, your sink may fall off.

I actually had this problem with my first slab and the fabricators refused to install it. They said there was no way for them to make the slabs even at the seam and it just wouldn't look good. We actually had to go out and find a different slab of granite.

My problem is fixed. After ripping the sink out, they sanded the thicker side around sink opening, then they did the sanding in front of the countertop (almost 40 inches in length ).The guy admitted that the countertop was cut from two different slabs and nobody checked the thickness. It took them 4.5 hours to remedy the problem, but at the and looks like I will have working kitchen for Easter!

Sloppy workmanship. Thickness variation is common not just between slabs but often on the same slab where one end is as much as 1/8" thicker than the other.

Backgrinding to eliminate the step at a seam should be done automatically.

I also think a seam in the middle of the sink is poor quality. The main reason fabricators want to do it that way is because it eliminates the occasional cracked sink rail which can be very expensive for the fabricator..